Cutting acrylamide: Kerry’s c-LEcta leverages “food-grade amidase” to reduce potential carcinogen

14 Mar 2024 --- Kerry Group’s subsidiary, c-LEcta, examines the coffee industry’s challenges of dealing with acrylamide — a food contaminant and possible carcinogen. The compound is currently subject to the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) principle in the EU and undergoes regular scrutiny.

The Germany-based biotech firm formulates enzyme products based on the proprietary enzyme technology platform ENESYZ and recently developed Acrylerase, a food enzyme to reduce acrylamide in instant coffee and ready-to-drink coffee beverages.

Food Ingredients First catches up with Dr. Marc Struhalla, CEO of c-LEcta, who highlights that coffee, soluble coffee and coffee substitute formulators in the EU have to follow official benchmark acrylamide levels in such products, which are “monitored regularly.”

“Since acrylamide is not only formed during coffee roasting but also during high-temperature extraction, monitoring acrylamide levels is of particular importance for producers of soluble coffee as well as coffee substitutes, e.g., based on chicory or grain,” he says.

“In some markets like Europe and South Korea, the regulatory pressure for these product categories is already there. This can make the implementation of costly and time-consuming mitigation measures necessary and also limits manufacturers in their flexibility when sourcing green coffee.”

Acrylamide was first detected in foods in 2002 and in 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed its carcinogenic status. Coffee and coffee substitutes were deemed one of the main contributors, besides potato-based and cereal-based products.

Tackling acrylamide “directly”
Struhalla flags that during soluble coffee production, an increasing amount of acrylamide’s precursor “asparagine” is developed during roasting and high-temperature extraction. 

To limit its formation, formulators must “carefully select and intensively control” the raw materials and roasting and extraction parameters.

Coffee and coffee substitutes are one of the key contributors to acrylamide formation in foods, says the EFSA. “This is no longer the case with Acrylerase since it is applied directly in the coffee/coffee substitute extract, where the acrylamide has already been formed,” he explains.

“The reduction is much more effective, very easy to integrate into the production process and eliminates the need for the previous reduction measures, i.e., increases the usable share of the worldwide coffee production.”

Chemically, Acrylerase is a food-grade “amidase which can directly decompose acrylamide.”

As per Struhalla, the company used enzyme engineering techniques to train the enzyme to withstand low pH and higher temperature conditions prevailing in coffee extracts. 

He further reveals that the company conducted extensive application tests with its partner Angewandte Kaffeetechnologie (ANKA) and large-scale soluble coffee productions to test its effectiveness.

Current method limitations
Existing acrylamide mitigation measures focus on preventing acrylamide formation through roasting or applying the Asparaginase enzyme to raw coffee beans to reduce the precursor asparagine. Struhalla flags some drawbacks to these methods. 

Acrylerase is a food-grade amidase which directly decomposes acrylamide and withstands low pH in coffee extracts.“Such measures are not only less efficient but also usually result in lower yields and higher raw material costs.”

However, Acrylerase tackles this by directly targeting acrylamide itself while allowing the use of a “broader selection of green coffee beans, which has no impact on yields,” he explains. 

The solution also has expected cost benefits for coffee formulators since the enzyme can be “easily implemented in existing production processes” without investment in the available infrastructure.  

“Acrylerase is sold as a liquid enzyme formulation in 20 L bins. We furthermore offer smaller sample sizes for lab and pilot testing. Depending on the desired rate of reduction and process parameters, the cost-in-use can be adjusted over a broad range,” he details.

Apart from coffee, other industry segments have also faced the acrylamide challenge and are tackling it with technological advancements and regulatory actions. Struhalla hopes the same for coffee.

“While the acrylamide problem in baked goods and potato products has already been successfully solved by asparaginase, the reduction of acrylamide in soluble coffee, coffee extracts and coffee substitutes has always been a challenge. We therefore expect a high acceptance of our newly introduced product on the market,” he concludes.

By Insha Naureen